{"id":4154,"date":"2016-07-29T20:26:11","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T20:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=4154"},"modified":"2016-07-29T20:26:11","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T20:26:11","slug":"slice-of-heaven-sau-bay-fiji-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=4154","title":{"rendered":"Slice of Heaven – Sau Bay Fiji Retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sau
Sau Bay Fiji Retreat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019d had a great few days in Viani Bay enjoying the diving on Rainbow Reef, but then the wind picked up from the south, making the anchorage rolly and uncomfortable. Time to move our home somewhere quieter. We were keen to catch up with our friends from Bruce\u2019s SSI days, Nigel and Carol Douglas, who own and run Sau Bay Fiji Retreat, and as luck would have it they were just around the corner, in Nasau Bay.<\/p>\n

By now \u201cEscape Velocity\u201d had joined us, so together we upped anchor and motored the short distance round the corner, keeping a careful watch on all those reefs and bommies trying to lure us into the \u201cReefer\u2019s Club\u201d. Even so, we nearly came a cropper trusting our charts \u2013 the visibility was poor and we almost ran over the top of a coral bommie that should have been 200 metres away according to our chart. Lesson learnt!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the southerly was funneling through Nasau Bay when we arrived, so we found a quieter anchorage for the night in a neighbouring mangrove creek \u2013 it reminded us of Escape River in Far North Queensland, and the sunrise the next morning was gorgeous.<\/p>\n

\"Dawn
Dawn in Naqaiqai Creek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After breakfast we motored back round to Nasau Bay and dropped anchor in front of the retreat, nestled discreetly amongst the trees. What a truly heavenly place it is! Luckily, the resort was spared major damage from cyclone Winston although Carol and Nigel have been very busy clearing up debris, rebuilding the staff quarters and replanting the gardens.<\/p>\n

Nasau Bay – the retreat is so well hidden it’s hard to spot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The magnificent rain tree was spared by Winston, not so lucky the neighbouring mango tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Timmy
Timmy and friends giving us the guided tour of the gardens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Carol
Carol has worked so hard to create the beautiful tropical gardens of the retreat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Carol
Carol & Nigel’s rescue dogs are as welcoming as their hosts!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tranquility
Tranquility plus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With capacity for a maximum of 12 guests, it\u2019s truly a retreat of the best possible kind. Beautifully appointed guest bungalows, even a genuine African safari tent for the ultimate \u2018Glamping\u2019 experience. And the food was delicious!<\/p>\n

\"Glamping
Glamping doesn’t get much better than this<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Inside
Inside the safari tent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"complete
complete with luxurious bathroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alfresco
Alfresco meals on the balcony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was wonderful to catch up with Carol and Nigel, who are truly the most hospitable and welcoming hosts \u2013 we can\u2019t thank them enough for going above and beyond in the generosity stakes, even to the point of giving us their spare Honda generator to use as parts to repair our recalcitrant one which hasn\u2019t worked since the Caribbean. It\u2019s the laziest, most useless bit of equipment on the boat, so you can imagine our excitement at the thought of finally getting it working again. Sadly, although we can now get it to run, it still isn\u2019t putting any charge into the batteries so it looks like we\u2019ll have to find an expert to diagnose the problem. Failing that, I\u2019m sure it would make a good anchor mooring for a small boat! And talking of \u00a0moorings, Nigel has plans to put in several heavy duty moorings for visiting yachts which will certainly make it an attractive stop-over for cruisers.<\/p>\n

It was also the perfect setting for Bruce to get back into dive instructor mode. Marce on Escape Velocity was keen to learn, so after completing her theory it was time to get in the water. Unfortunately she had some difficulties with equalising her ears, so it was a short first lesson, but I have no doubt with her tenacity she’ll be keen to have another go before too long!<\/p>\n

\"He's
He’s at it again – always willing to share his love of diving<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Marce
Marce and Bruce on scuba<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It would have been so easy to soak up the tranquility and friendliness of Sau Bay for many more days, but our friends on Rehua were enroute from New Zealand and we were keen to welcome them into Savusavu and celebrate Bruce\u2019s birthday with them. But we\u2019re hoping to get back East again later in the season, and you can be sure that Sau Bay will be on our list for a re-visit. Bula Vinaka Carol and Nigel \u2013 thank you for sharing your most perfect slice of heaven with us.<\/p>\n

\"The
The lounge\/dining room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The spa hut overlooking the water – oerfect for a massage or facial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Escape
Escape Velocity through the rain tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Toucan
Toucan at dawn, Sau Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019d had a great few days in Viani Bay enjoying the diving on Rainbow Reef, but then the wind picked up from the south, making the anchorage rolly and uncomfortable. Time to move our home somewhere quieter. We were keen to catch up with our friends from Bruce\u2019s SSI days, Nigel and Carol Douglas, who … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Slice of Heaven – Sau Bay Fiji Retreat”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-svtoucan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6B46t-150","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4154"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4161,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4154\/revisions\/4161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}